Fountain pen

ABSTRACT

A fountain pen and method of making same according to which liquid ink is from an ink container conveyed through a capillary section to a gap leading to the writing tip of the pen while the foil forming the writing pen is covered and capillary passages lead into the pen gap, which passages have their opposite ends communicating with the ink container.

O United States Patent [151 3,659,954 Herrnring 1 May 2, 1972 [54] FOUNTAIN PEN [56] References Cited [72] inventor: Heinz Gunther Herrnrlng, Hamburg-Fuhl- UNITED STATES PATENTS sbuttel, Germany 331,203 11/1885 Loeser ..l5/447 [73] Assignee: Montblanc-Slmplo GmbH, Hamburg, Ger- 528,654 "894 graham ""401 /221 many I 1,074,957 10/1913 Ketchum ..401/252 X [22] Filed: Mar. 16, 1971 2,156,302 5/1939 Longmaid ..15/447 X 2,224,289 12/1940 Chesler ....40l/22l I211 P NW 124,990 2,102,021 2/1955 Richmeyer ..401/223 Related U.S. Application Data Continuation of Ser. No. 839,228, July 7, 1969, abancloned.

Foreign Application Priority Data July 10,1968 Germany ..P 17 61 812.1

U.S. Cl ..401/223, 15/447, 401/221 Int. Cl ..B43k 5/02 Field of Search ..401/221-252;

Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles Attorney-Walter Becker 1 1 ABSTRACT A fountain pen and method of making same according to which liquid ink is from an ink container conveyed through a capillary section to a gap leading to the writing tip of the pen while the foil forming the writing pen is covered and capillary passages lead into the pen gap, which passages have their opposite ends communicating with the ink container.

4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures FOUNTAIN PEN This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 839,228, filed July 7, 1969, now abandoned.

The present invention concerns a fountain pen in which liquid ink is from an ink container conveyed through a capillary path to a gap leading to the tip of the pen.

Heretofore known fountain pens for liquid ink are, if they are used as a writing implement with a pen, provided with a specific capillary system which generally is designed as ink conductor or feeder. Such ink conductor is intended to feed the ink from the ink chamber in a metered quantity to the pen gap and to control the supply of air to the ink chamber. With heretofore known fountain pens of this type it is disadvantageous that with elastic pens the ink transfer from the feeder to the pen can easily be interrupted so that the fountain pen might, under certain circumstances, start writing only with difiiculty or may interrupt writing (skip). Another disadvantage consists in that the manufacturing costs for the feeder are relatively high.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a fountain pen for liquid ink which will work without a conventional feeder and nevertheless will have all the advantages normally inherent to a pen as writing instrument (the handwriting showing more character).

It is another object of this invention to provide an advantageous method of producing pens with covered capillaries for a fountain pen according to the invention.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pen according to the invention for use in connection with a fountain pen.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a band-shaped starting material for producing a pen according to FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3a-3e respectively illustrate cross-sections along the lines III-III of FIG. 2 for explaining five successive working steps effected when producing the pen according to the invention.

FIGS. 4 and 5 present illustrations similar to that of FIG. 2 of a starting material for a pen with capillary passages of different configuration.

FIG. 6 illustrates in cross section an ink storing material between an ink container and capillary passages.

The fountain pen according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that the leaf of the writing pen comprises capillary passages which are covered and lead into the pen gap, said capillary passages having their opposite ends in communication with the ink container 12 or reservoir. If desired, between the ink container and the rear ends of the capillary passages there may be provided a porous ink storing mass or material 13 or said mass may itself form the ink container.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a writing pen for the fountain pen according to the invention has at least within the area of the pen gap a plurality of capillary passages extending in the manner of fish bones. According to a further feature of the invention, the method of making the writing pen with covered capillary passages for a fountain pen according to the invention is characterized in that the pen leaf is first provided with open grooves at the areas intended for the capillary passages whereupon the grooves are filled with a material which can be evaporated and are subsequently covered by another material. Finally, by means of a heat treatment at a temperature below the melting point of the metal used for the pen leaf and below the melting point of the cover material, the evaporated material is removed. In this connection it is particularly advantageous to fill the capillary passages which open in the beginning with cadmium and to employ as cover material a nickel coating preferably deposited by electro-plating.

In order not to damage the produced capillaries when finish forming and slotting the pen, it is suggested according to the invention to carry out the finish forming and slotting after the capillary passages have been filled and covered and the material in said capillary passages has not yet been evaporated.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the pen shown in FIG. 1 for a fountain pen according to the invention is tubular even though all other customary and heretofore known shapes of pens may be employed. More specifically, the pen consists of a pen leaf 1 which ends in a writing tip 2. From the tip 2 the customary pen gap 4 leads to the central portion of the pen where, if desired, as a kind of limitation there may be provided a heart-shaped hole 3. The pen described so far may be considered conventional.

The novel and inventive feature of the present invention is seen in the fact that the pen gap 4 is no longer fed from a feeder but its ink supply is now arranged within the pen leaf. As will be seen from FIG. 1, a plurality of capillaries 5 arranged in the manner of fish bones or herring-bones lead from both sides into the area of the pen gap 4. These capillaries 5 define with the longitudinal axis of the pen an angle of approximately from 7 to 15.

The rear ends of the capillaries lead into the cut edges of the pen leaf and here may be supplied with ink either directly from the ink container or reservoir or from an interposed porous ink storing mass or material.

In order further to improve the ink supply system, there also exists the possibility to form a capillary network within the range of the pen behind the pen gap 4. Such network consists of a longitudinal capillary 6 directed to the pen gap 4, while the said capillary 6 may be supplied in its turn with liquid ink or may receive its ink through further capillaries 5 which are arranged in a fish bone-like manner and lead into the longitudinal capillary 6.

The design of the capillaries 5, 5 in a fish bone-like arrangement may also be varied or modified in the manner shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 shows capillaries of an undulated contour which may increase the throughflow resistance of the capillaries if necessary and which may also furnish the possibility to have the capillaries lead into the pen gap 4 or the longitudinal capillary 6 at a right angle with regard thereto.

The arrangement of FIG. 5 represents an arrangement of the capillaries in which sections of the capillaries are extending at a right angle with regard to each other. it is to be understood that also the capillary arrangement of FIG. 5 is to be considered as within the term in the manner of fish bones or herring-bones".

The pens according to the present invention can in spite of their rather complicated infra-structure be produced very easily and also in a continuous working method. Such preferred manufacturing process will be described in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3.

Depending on the pen material to be employed, the manufacturing process starts with a metal band 7 having a thickness of approximately 0.15 mm. As metal may, in customary manner, be employed gold, steel, or also beryllium bronze. This metal band is first provided with open capillary grooves which correspond to the desired configuration of the capillaries. The open capillary grooves may be provided by engraving the metal band, or by rolling or etching the same.

In conformity with present tests, the etching method appears to be the simplest and the most economical one. For purposes of etching, the metal band 7 is, in conformity with FIG. 3, coated with a photosensitive cover lacquer 8 which is exposed to light in conformity with the etching sample and is developed. This method step is shown in FIG. 3a. Instead of a photosensitive cover lacquer there may, of course, also be provided another covering method, for instance, printing according to the screen printing method. When subsequently the metal band 7 prepared in conformity with FIG. 3a is etched, there will form in the metal band 7 between the remaining or left parts of the cover 8 capillary grooves 50 the configuration of which corresponds to the desired course of the capillaries in the pen.

"H034 mm According to the next following method step, these open capillary grooves 5a are filled with a material which can be evaporated. Such material is, for instance, cadmium which can be deposited in an electro-plating bath (FIG. 3c).

According to the next method step illustrated in FIG. 3d, a cover material is deposited upon the top side of the metal band 7 after the remaining lacquer portions 8 have been removed. This cover material may contain, for instance, nickel which is likewise deposited in an electro-plating or chemical bath. Important in this connection for the selection of the material adapted to be evaporated and for the cover material is the fact that the evaporating temperature of the material to be evaporated must not exceed the temperature at which the pen leaf metal or the cover material begin to melt.

From the metal band 7 provided with a nickel cover or coating 9 according to FIG. 3d in which the capillaries are now filled by the material 10 adapted to be evaporated, there are now produced the pen blanks, i.e. there are now, for instance in conformity with the cutting lines 11 of FIG. 2, stamped out individual section which are immediately provided with the required pen gap 4 and are brought into the desired shape. Due to the fact that the capillary passages in the metal band are still completely filled, the cutting, slotting and deforming of the pen blank will not bring about a deformation of the capillaries to be produced later.

After the pen blank has been formed so as to have the shape just mentioned, it is subjected to a heat treatment while the temperature is so selected that the material 10 will now evaporate while the groove coating or cover 9 and the pen leaf material will not yet melt. This heat treatment is preferably carried out in a vacuum or at least in a protective gas atmosphere in order to prevent oxydation. With this heat treatment it is possible in a manner known per se to regain the cadmium by providing cooling plates. After the evaporation step, the pen cross-section corresponds substantially to the shape illustrated in F 1G. 32.

FIGS. 3a3e illustrate the cross-sections of the metal band 7 at a greatly enlarged scale. Furthermore, these illustrations are not decisive for the actual shape of the capillaries which, de-

pending on the desired conditions, may be deeper or wider or may, for instance, by means of etching be provided with a dove-tail-shaped cross-section. The cross-sectional dimensioning of the capillaries will be effected in conformity with the length of the capillaries, the potential of the capillaries, the selected viscosity of the respective ink and the wear of the provided pen tip.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular construction shown in the drawing but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A fountain pen which includes an ink reservoir, and a sheet metal element curved to fonn a writing pen and having a tip with a slot leading to said tip, said sheet metal element having a plurality of capillary passages between its front and rear surfaces with their front ends opening into the edges of said slot between said surfaces and having their rear ends opening into the edges of said sheet element between said surfaces and in communication with said ink reservoir, so that ink is conveyed through said capillary passages within said sheet element to the edges of said slot to supply ink to said tip.

2. A fountain pen according to claim 1, which includes a porous ink storing mass especially of synthetic material always interposed between said ink reservoir and the rear ends of said capillary passages.

3. A fountain pen according to claim 1, in which the writing pen is flexible and at least within the area of said slot has a plurality of capillary passages arranged in the form of herringbones.

4. A fountain pen according to claim I, in which the writing pen has a longitudinal capillary in substantially linear alignment with said slot, and leading from an opening in the edge of said sheet element to an opening in the edge of said slot, and in which capillary passage portions are arranged in the manner of herring-bones and are located remote from said slot and lead from openings in the edge of said sheet and open into said longitudinal capillary.

i i i i "H014 (MIG 

1. A fountain pen which includes an ink reservoir, and a sheet metal element curved to form a writing pen and having a tip with a slot leading to said tip, said sheet metal element having a plurality of capillary passages between its front and rear surfaces with their front ends opening into the edges of said slot between said surfaces and having their rear ends opening into the edges of said sheet element between said surfaces and in communication with said ink reservoir, so that ink is conveyed through said capillary passages within said sheet element to the edges of said slot to supply ink to said tip.
 2. A fountain pen according to claim 1, which includes a porous ink storing mass especially of synthetic material always interposed between said ink reservoir and the rear ends of said capillary passages.
 3. A fountain pen according to claim 1, in which the writing pen is flexible and at least within the area of said slot has a plurality of capillary passages arranged in the form of herring-bones.
 4. A fountain pen according to claim 1, in which the writing pen has a longitudinal capillary in substantially linear alignment with said slot, and leading from an opening in the edge of said sheet element to an opening in the edge of said slot, and in which capillary passage portions are arranged in the manner of herring-bones and are located remote from said slot and lead from openings in the edge of said sheet and open into said longitudinal capillary. 